Sunday, June 21, 2015

WILLIAM MARSHAL NON FICTION WORKS: A roundup.

I thought I would write a roundup of the most prominent reference works concerned with William Marshal for those who might want to read about him for themselves. I have used some of these for research while writing my novels about William Marshal (THE GREATEST KNIGHT and THE SCARLET LION, detailing his life story from young manhood to grave). Some works have been published since I wrote THE GREATEST KNIGHT (one even has the same title and UK font!), so I thought I'd do a roundup with my opinion. A couple have full reviews.

Before I go on to the secondary source material, I need to mention that the top primary source resource for the study of William Marshal is THE HISTOIRE DE GUILLAUME LE MARESCHAL, a rhyming 20,000 line poem about William's life published by the Anglo Norman Text Society in two volumes with a companion glossary volume. It's edited by A.J. Holden with English translations by S. Gregory and historical notes by David Crouch. You can find out more about it by enquiries to the Anglo Norman Text Society. http://www.anglo-norman-texts.net/

Onto the reference works.

SIMPLY THE BEST

William Marshal Knighthood War and Chivalry 1147-1219 by David Crouch.

David Crouch's work on William Marshal: is now, in second edition, 13 years old, but it still sets the gold standard. There are one or two slips of the pen (such as the comment that William's wife could have been no older than twenty when he married her - when in fact she could have been no older than 17) and occasional moments where opinion becomes a bit more personal than fact and are not fully supported (that the Marshal could not read for example, where the only evidence is that he employed clerks - but then so did everyone else. And calling him a 'complete illiterate not even able to read French let alone Latin, sounds like putting in the boot without any clear evidence). However, by and large, this one wears its scholarship with full credentials and excellent analysis. I understand from professor Crouch that there is going to be a third edition of this work either later this year or in the New Year with amendments, corrections and new material. A lot of new information about the Marshal has come to light via Professor Crouch's study of previously unexplored letters and charters of the Marshals and these are going to add a lot more nuance to what is already known. If you only buy one book about the Marshal, make it this.

NB The Marshal letters and charters were supposed to have been made available as a publication from the Camden Society in July 2015, but it now looks as if it may be November.

THE BEST OF THE REST

William Marshal. Knight-Errant, Baron and Regent of England by Sidney Painter

This one was first published in 1933 but it has stood the test of time reasonably well and can be read beside the Crouch to give an excellent overview of the period. This is my second go-to book. It's not as nuanced as the Crouch, and the research is older, but it still holds its own and has a strong feel for the Marshal. Good scholarship.

The Knight Who Saved England by Richard Brooks

This is a workmanlike biography of the Marshal that's on its best ground in a military capacity. Indeed, I think Brooks understands the Marshal the military man the best of any of the biographers. He really gets a feel for the logistics and his man in that capacity. The book is particularly strong on the battle of Lincoln in 1217 and is worth buying just for that. You can read my full review here.

This work is mostly a print copy of the articles Catherine Armstrong has written for the Castles Wales website. Here's the link to the site, and then you can fine tune from there by using the search box. Castles Wales It's very obviously self published and the production values are not high end. It's a bit here and there in content and the Marshal is viewed with a rose-tinted focus at times. However, it is still well written and knowledgeable. There are details one can pick up from this one that are not in any other work and the bibliography is staggering and well worth the perusal. It's definitely one to add to the shelf.

DUBIOUS DUBY

George Duby's Flower of Chivalry was the first book I read on the Marshal when I began researching my novels. I read it once and then put it back on my shelf. Duby is flawed. He has some very strange notions about the treatment of women at that time and twists the facts so much to suit his argument that he warps the whole frame out of true. He is also guilty of making William Marshal a bit of a bonehead, which he certainly wasn't. He doesn't give him enough credit on the fronts beyond the military and simplifies his character. I would say there are better works out there. Professor Crouch himself warns against some of Duby's excesses. Although he is fair in his appraisal of Duby and says some positive things. His concluding remark is telling. 'Duby's Marshal is a warning of how selective historical writing can distort the evidence in a most unacceptable way.'

THE LATEST OFFERING

The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge. I read this recently and here's my review. If there's to be a paperback of this work, I sincerely hope it will be revised

I confess that before I read
Thomas Asbridge’s THE GREATEST KNIGHT”, I was already curious about this new
biography of William Marshal. The lives of John FitzGilbert the Marshal and his
son William are a lifelong study subject for me outside my novel writing career. Since this
work shares the title of my 2004 novel THE GREATEST KNIGHT about the life of
William Marshal and even has the same font and cloudy background on the cover, my interest was naturally
piqued even more.

William Marshal, circa 1146-1219 has been called the
Greatest Knight who ever lived and we know about him through a rhyming
biographical poem of over 20,000 lines commissioned by his family and written
by a poet simply known as John.

Despite the often highly positive spin the
biography puts on the Marshal’s life, much of the “Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal” still rings true in its basics
and the reader receives a strong flavour of the vigour of the Marshal’s
character. It’s a vivid glimpse into the
world of the 12th and 13th century aristocracy – their
cares and concerns, their pleasures and politics. It’s the first secular
biography of an Englishman and a work of incalculable value, not least because
of its survival, which is a story in itself.

That survival is the starting point of Thomas Asbridge’s work
- how it was rediscovered at auction by historian Paul Meyer in the 19th
century and how he lost the bid, but doggedly followed the manuscript’s trail, found
it again, and translated it into the modern French of his own era along with a
commentary. It’s a fascinating story
that draws the reader in and is one of the book’s most positive and interesting
aspects.

Thomas Asbridge tells his tale in a strong, linear style
that is entertaining and very readable which gives it wide appeal. You don’t
have to be an academic to enjoy the writing.
He mostly relies on the “Histoire
de Guillaume le Mareschal” as his
source material and puts his own interpretations on the story, sometimes with
results that might raise the eyebrows of those who know William Marshal well,
but probably won’t be noticed by those who don’t. I have to say that general readers may be
misled at times about the Marshal’s character because the interpretation, and indeed some of the stated 'facts' do not always stand up to scrutiny.Asbridge
never seems to quite grasp the nuances. For example, John FitzGilbert, William’s father is
portrayed as a brutal weathercock. But
he was no more brutal than any other baron at the time, and it could be argued
much less of a weathercock than a good number of his compatriots. Once he swore
for the Empress he stuck to his word even though it meant the loss of an eye at
Wherwell, and the potential loss of his son at Newbury, when John was the last
man standing between King Stephen and the castle at Wallingford. The reader
isn’t told this. Asbridge tells us
instead that King Stephen was ‘determined
to punish John’s presumption’ and so in the fading days of his power, came
to seize John’s castle at Newbury. But it was more than just royal displeasure
and vindictiveness that brought Stephen to Newbury. The point of the Newbury
incident is that Stephen needed to get to Wallingford before the future Henry
II returned from Normandy, but he knew if he marched directly to Wallingford from
his current base at Reading that John
FitzGilbert would come from Newbury, attack him from behind and he’d end up sandwiched
between the defending garrison at Wallingford and the Marshal forces in the
rear. So in order to have a good chance
of success at Wallingford, he had to take out John Marshal first. John Marshal knew there was no one else; he
was the last man standing between Stephen and the destruction of Wallingford. That puts the whole situation in a very
different light. There’s
the moment when John attacks his rival neighbour, Patrick of Salisbury.
Asbridge tells us that this shows John’s capacity for ‘ruthless brutality’ – to attack a troop of more lightly armed
men. What he doesn’t tell the reader is
that these lightly armed men were actually on their way to slaughter John and
were carrying their heavy armour with them ready to put on just before they attacked
him. But John got wind of their intent and hit them first. Again, the reader is only told half the story
and thus the nuances are changed.When
it comes to William Marshal himself, I
began to wonder how much notice Thomas Asbridge had actually paid to the
Histoire although it seemed to be his main source of information. For example, he tells us that “The Marshal himself seems to have shown
only limited interest in the likes of dancing (and) music.” In direct contradiction of this the Histoire
tells us that William’s singing voice had a ‘pure,
sweet tone’ and that he willingly sang for his comrades at a dance at a
tourney and that it gave them ‘much
pleasure and delight.’ (Lines 3471-3483)
Many years later on his deathbed, William said one day that he felt like
singing, as he had not in three years. This suggests that he had enjoyed song
for most of his life. He also specifically called his daughters to sing for him
and instructed them how to do so to the best of their ability and then joined
in with them.’ (lines 18532-18580). This is a man with only days to live. It’s very, very obvious that he loved music, understood its technicalities, and it would have been one of the few joys left to him. I am astounded that Asbridge has been so dismissive of these aspects in his work.Asbridge
alters one scene in the Histoire itself by not reading the text in primary
source and by misunderstanding the English translation, hence the matter of the
pike. At a tourney at Pleurs, William
Marshal got his head stuck inside his helmet and went to the smithy to have it
prised off. In the meantime he had been
judged ‘man of the match’ which means he had won the main tourney prize, of a
fish – a large pike. The Histoire tells us this in the original Old French word
for the creature “luz” It’s in prime condition and more than two and
a half feet long. Pikes and swans were
common tourney prizes at this time, as were other animals. One particular tourney even had a bear as the
prize. Asbridge tells his readers that
William has won a two and a half foot long spear! Common
sense would surely tell one that a spear of two and a half feet in length isn’t
actually a spear (you'd need to be looking around 12 feet) and not a useful thing to win, especially not for the champion
of the show!Asbridge
dresses William in an odd way too. He tells us he would have worn a shirt with detachable
sleeves, a ‘fact’ that appears to be picked up almost verbatim from the
Danziger and Gillingham book “1215”. Asbridge says that William would have worn “a shirt, often with detachable sleeves.” Danziger and Gillingham’s line (p22) says “a shirt with long sleeves that were often
detachable.” Now then, neither
Danziger nor Gillingham are clothing historians but I happen to know a
few, and I challenge anyone to find any
time in the 12th or 13th century when shirts with detachable
sleeves were worn; tunics perhaps, later on under Renaissance influence, but
never, never shirts.The
description of the Young King, eldest son of Henry II is almost identical to
the one on Wikipedia and the problem here is that the reader can’t know if this
information is reliable because Asbridge doesn’t give proper sources or
footnotes. There is no bibliography section, rather the books consulted are
mentioned in the end notes which are far from reader friendly. They are arranged in a chapter by chapter
format, but are quotes from pages without reference numbers, leaving the reader
utterly baffled and having to hunt through the entire chapter for the lines in
question.I was somewhat surprised at some of the dates Asbridge uses. Eleanor of Aquitaine
receives the older research birthdate of 1122 instead of the now more usually
accepted 1124. King John’s birth year
is cited as 1167 when it looks more likely to be 1166. (See “Eleanor of Aquitaine Lord and
Lady,” edited by John Parsons and Bonnie Wheeler, the chapter by Andrew Lewis
on revising the birth date of King John. This also gives the revised birth date
of 1124 for Eleanor of Aquitaine. Gerald of Wales also indicates the birth date
of 1166 for John). William Longespee’s birth date is erroneously given as 1167
when we now know it was somewhere between 1175-80, shortly before his mother,
Ida de Tosney married Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.The
reader is told that Eleanor of Aquitaine was at the coronation of her son the
Young King in 1170. However she was in
Normandy at the time, trying to prevent various agents of Thomas Becket making
the crossing and preventing the coronation.
(William FitzStephen Life of Becket).Asbridge
has William setting off for the Holy Land in September 1183 and suggests that
he just possibly may have arrived there in that same month in time to fight
Saladin – which is patently impossible even given a jet propelled horse!Asbridge
suggests in one of the many ‘may have’ moments occupying the narrative that
Richard the Lionheart was determined to
build a glorious reputation for himself in liberating Jerusalem and
didn’t want William along on crusade with him in case the Marshal stole his limelight
– he was jealous of him! That begs the
question then, why did he promote
William and his affinity to such prominent positions in his government? Why not
just dump William if he was worried about the threat to his own glory? Asbridge also speculates as to whether
William would be considered a coward for staying at home, but since someone had
to rule the country and since William had already made the pilgrimage, it’s an
argument that skates on very thin ice – in my opinion.Asbridge accuses the Marshal of ‘grumping, wheedling and whining’ to
Henry II for promotion and makes him
sound like a child having a whinge in a supermarket. While the Marshal might
have been pro-active in seeking promotion, and we know he complained to Henry II, “grumping, wheedling and whining” certainly does
not convey the resonances of the period and the way in which the reciprocation
of patronage played out. Would Henry
II, famous for his impatience, have listened to and sought the advice of a man who grumped, wheedled and
whined? Absolutely not. Positives? The aforementioned story of the discovery and
rescue of the manuscript is well written and fascinating. Dr. Asbridge also gives a fine reassessment
of the Young King which is long overdue and puts him in his full political context. Rather than a foolish, spendthrift ‘Hooray
Henry,’ this eldest surviving son of
Henry II comes over as a politically astute young man frustrated by his
father’s controlling, micro-managing
policies. That aspect of the biography is excellent and recommended as food for
thought. It’s a great balancer to the more usual negative assessments of the
Young King.

Ultimately, Asbridge’s “Greatest Knight” is an uneven work that doesn’t really get
under the surface of the Marshal’s personality and there are some rather bizarre interpretations of the motivations
behind some historical events completely lacking credible evidence to back them up.

If it is taken too seriously or seeps into the public
mindset, it has the potential to set back the progress made by more scholarly
works of our understanding of the Marshal. If you do read this one, make sure
you also read David Crouch on the Marshal to get a fully rounded picture.

3 comments:

I think you read my mind sometimes, Elizabeth. ;) I was wondering if I should get Asbridge's Marshal book. I think I'll wait for the paperback in hopes of potential corrections and for the opportunity to read his assessment of Young Henry.

A great review on Asbridge's book, Elizabeth. I thought it was excellent and agree with your points completely. Since John FitzGilbert is a big favorite of mine, I was particularly disturbed by Asbridge's gross mis-characterization of him, and liked your discussion of some examples of how he went about it. Sadly, there are too many others. His tendency to exaggerate and over-dramatize exacerbates the problem.

Agree that his lack of good footnotes and sourcing make it difficult to evaluate what he says and one wonders where some of his subjective statements are coming from.

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